


love when it's tough

by Misterdevere



Series: what’s life without love [33]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Bittersweet, Christmas, M/M, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misterdevere/pseuds/Misterdevere
Summary: The Unwins have had a hell of a year. It's time to come together at Christmas and while troubles can't be forgotten, they have each other to help them through.
Relationships: Merlin/Gary "Eggsy" Unwin
Series: what’s life without love [33]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868476
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	love when it's tough

“Hey, girls! Happy Christmas!” Eggsy scooped both of his granddaughters into a hug and smacked big kisses on their cheeks.

“Happy Christmas, grandad!” Merlin gave them both hugs too and exchanged Merry Christmases. “Father Christmas came!”

“Of course he did! You’re the best girls, you’re right at the top of the nice list! Frankie’s in the living room, why don’t you go and show him everything Santa brought and we’ll come and see in a minute, yeah?” The girls ran off with their backpacks to find Frankie, and Eggsy pulled his son into a hug. “Happy Christmas, mate. How you doing?”

“I’m alright. Nice to see the girls happy. How are you lot doing?”

“We’re fine, lad. Glad to have you all here.” Merlin gave him a hug and a small smile and quickly excused himself back to the kitchen, Eggsy watching sympathetically after him.

Leo frowned at his dad. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Eggsy put a smile back on and cocked his head for Leo to follow. “Let’s go and get drinks, yeah?” They grabbed wine for themselves and juice for the kids, Eggsy left a drink on the side and a kiss on Merlin’s cheek and he and Leo joined the kids in the living room. Eggsy listened with eager interest as the girls talked him through their presents but Leo soon suggested they go and play in their room until dinner was ready. He didn’t suggest they drag Frankie with them but he seemed to follow easily enough. “Did Georgina get them presents?”

Leo shook his head sadly. “She asked me to write her name on some of the tags, said she’d pay me back. So I did, told the girls they were from her.”

“At least she’s paying you back.”

“She won’t. But it’s fine.”

Eggsy sighed, so disappointed for his boy. He was trying so hard to keep his girls happy and their mum didn’t seem to be doing a thing. “You can’t make up for her fuckups forever.”

“I can try. I can’t let my girls think that their mum don’t give a shit about them, they’re too young to understand how things are.”

“Is she giving you child support?”

Leo shook his head with a small shrug of his mouth. “She ain’t got money to give me. And I’m not dragging her through court for it. She hurt me and my kids so fucking much, I just want her out of our lives as much and as soon as possible.” She’d destroyed the family they had and the one that they’d planned. They had two beautiful kids and were supposed to have two more and he felt the loss of them as much as he felt the loss of his marriage. It was only that he loved his kids more than he hated her, otherwise he’d never see her again. “If she keeps showing up for them, I’m not gonna get in the way but she’s already cancelling or trying to switch days or change hours all the time, I don’t think it’ll be long before she stops turning up altogether. And if the girls wanna see her, I’ll do everything I can to make her but they already don’t wanna go half the time. I don’t wanna drag things out trying to get money that she doesn’t have and I don’t need.”

Eggsy squeezed his shoulder supportively. “You know if you do need it, me and pop can help.”

“Thanks, dad. It’s fine, though. It’s a bit tight sometimes, I don’t always get to save as much as I’d like but I’m managing.”

“You don’t have to pay the bills. We can cover it.”

“I kind of do though, for me. I’m already living there rent free and I appreciate everything you’re doing for me so much. We’re living there, we make the bills, I should pay for them. I know you two wouldn’t care but I wouldn’t feel like I was taking care of my family if I didn’t pay our way at least a bit.”

“I get it. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks.” Leo gave him a grateful smile. “How’s Frankie doing?”

“A lot better. He’s opened up a lot more again, seems happier. He still has some not-so-good days but on the whole, it feels good to have our boy back.”

“And what’s up with Merlin?”

“He’s um…he’s struggling with it all a bit.” Eggsy hesitated to talk to Leo about it. He and Merlin were trying not to be too down for Frankie’s sake and especially wanted to keep upbeat for Christmas, and he didn’t want to pile onto Leo’s stresses. But the two of them had always been open with each other and he knew that if he didn’t tell him, Leo would imagine far worse.

As it was, his brow was furrowed deep. “In what way?”

“He feels guilty that we didn’t know what was going on. I mean, there’s no way that we could’ve known without invading his privacy, and we never wanted to do that with either of you, but Frankie’s always been closer to his poppop. I think he feels like he should’ve just known, felt how much he was hurting, through some kind of telepathy or something. He doesn’t know how to be sure that he’s alright without smothering him.”

“It ain’t his fault what happened, or yours.”

Eggsy shrugged. “Maybe we should’ve dug a bit more when he was quiet about things but we thought he was just being a moody teenager. And maybe we should’ve been more careful about having Charlie around but we didn’t wanna send the wrong message. We didn’t want him to think it was wrong for him to be into boys or to experiment - it’s natural, ain’t it? - but maybe if we’d been a bit stricter about it, Charlie wouldn’t have been able to manipulate him the way he did. It’s hard, I just think Merlin’s still finding it a bit harder.”

“You never know, Frankie might’ve just hidden more shit from you, or Charlie might’ve found a different way to worm his way in. You and pop didn’t do anything wrong. I swear, if I didn’t have the girls and a fucking custody agreement to worry about, I would’ve kicked the shit out of that little prick.”

“Merlin was ready to rip his head off as well, and you two have the cheek to call me the hothead.”

“Where d’you think I get it from?” Eggsy let out a soft laugh and they both settled into quiet. “Been a shitshow of a year, ain’t it?”

“Yeah.” Eggsy pulled Leo in to have his head rest on his shoulder and kissed to top of his head. “But you have the most amazing kids, and so do I. Things will get better.”


End file.
